On her knees

"On Her Knees" is about dignity: about maintaining dignity and understanding the true meaning of dignity. The narrator supposes his mother's dignity is devalued, perhaps destroyed, because she works on her knees cleaning other people's houses. This is especially true since she used to have specialized employment in a medical office.
The narrator is himself pursuing his dignity at law school, feeling that externals, like employment, provide the basis for dignity. In connection with this feeling, he loathes to see her lower herself and disregard and degrade her own dignity. He equally loathes to lower his dignity to help her.
One day her dignity--and his understanding of dignity--is put to the test when she is accused of stealing a pair of $500 earrings from a householder form whom she cleans.
Metaphorically yelling and screaming all the way, the narrator helps her do an all-out four-hour cleaning job for the angered householder's home. The missing earrings are found when he vacuums under the bed. His mother deduces what must have happened so that the earrings were carelessly tossed to the floor with candy wrappers, and she cries silently when his back is turned: "I heard her blow her nose."
The narrator finally understands true dignity when his mother refuses the money offered by the householder. As proof that he understands that dignity is from one's inner being and not related directly to one's knees, he digs the earrings from the kitty litter box where he has tossed them and leaves them "beside the unstrung key and the thin envelope of money." All these are left behind and rejected by the mother's inner dignity. Further proof the narrator understands true dignity is given in the symbolic closing lines: "It seemed that the very light of day was pouring out through her limbs. I had my breath back
On Her Knees" is a very powerful story, teaching one the true meaning of dignity, respect for who you are.
TIm Winton uses various techniques to bring out the message he is putting forth. The story was written in the first person, making it seem as a personal experience which further authenticates the text. This point of view also enables the author to manupilate the reader's feelings and judgement. For example, later in the story the reader feels a sense of antipathy towards the owner of the house and sympathy and admiration towards the mother. This method also helps in creating an atmosphere where the reader feels as if he or she is confided in by the narrator which gets the reader more involved and interested in the story.
The issue of dignity is introduced in the first paragraph itself where the mother finds that there's "more honour in scrubbing other people's floors than having strangers scrub your own", which shows that the mother not only has pride in what she does but is also a very determined person for she doesn't mind he "come-down" from her previous job as long as her son is well provided for. Her son, the narrator, is portrayed from the on set as a person who thinks that his mother has been degraded and is full of shame.
The author through this story refers to the different levels of class. Words such as "wealthy" and "working class" are used as if to constantly ask the reader is it really class that determines your self worth? "She left jobs, she did not lose them."- This line in itself shows how much Carol respected herself.
"...a pair of missing earrings..."- this statement makes the reason for which his mother was sacked seem very trivial. The author uses a lot of symbolism in the story, for example: the action of the boy taking a shower can be translated into a wanting to escape form this situation. The mother is said to give the boy a "lecture", which suggests that she is in control leading to another symbol of imprisonment for the boy. The car is another clever use of symbolism where the car represents the boy's life. It is said to be "reeking" which shows that the narrator hates his life. The cranking down of the window represents a desire to escape. The mother is said to be driving carefully which shows two things: a) that she is in control of his life and b) that she makes sure she takes the safest route, protecting her son from harm.
The dialogue used in this story does not use quotation marks, making it unque (therefore appealing to readers) and also uses a method known as the stream of consciousness.
Another contrast between classes is made in the line: "Silence, that's their idea of an apology." This portrays those of upper class in a very bad light. The description of the house is done in such a way to show tht the owner was very rich. This enforces a feeling of inferiority in the narrator. The ordour and nausea represent resentment and shows the anger he has for the owner. The "veins livid in her legs" represent labour, pain and strain which in contrast to the character of the house owner is regarded as admirable. A further comparison of the narrator's and the owner's shows that while they (of low class) have a neat clean home, those of "higher class" have a messy one full of neglect. A sad truth is put forth in this story where the value of a pair of earrings surpasses the value of a human being.